In 1990, three of the United States’ leading automotive manufacturers sued the state of California for the intensity with which it was establishing and implementing emission regulations. Toyota however, began work on the Toyota Prius as a move that has now become one of the most fuel-efficient cars in the world. Toyota’s Prius is now considered to be one a pioneering development in the designing of practical hybrid cars that can be manufactured for consumers in mass numbers. It is one of the few cars that attract a growing number of people in society who are concerned about the environment. The Ford Mondeo on the other hand, is a car that is capable of capturing quite a vast array of consumers given the fact that Ford Mondeo prices start from £16595 for the Ford Mondeo 1.6i Edge and go all the way to £26545 for the Ford Mondeo 2.5T Titanium X Sport (Auto Express 2008).
The Toyota Prius has brought out a different side of consumers in terms of their preferences in driving. To consumers who have found an appeal in the Toyota Prius, the very concept of driving differs from consumers who choose to drive non-hybrid cars. Toyota Prius followers are instilled with a sense for the preservation of the environment on a rather practical foundation when compared to consumers who do not find an appeal in the Toyota Prius (Toyo Land 2008).
The Toyota Prius is not a package for speed freaks since it is designed to encourage power generation and saving instead of rapid acceleration at the cost of fuel and energy.
The Toyota Prius is designed to run on a combination of gasoline engine and electric motor that is designed to work in a manner that allows the electric motor to assist the gas engine and the gas engine to juice up the electric motor. The Ford Mondeo is a separate cup of tea altogether in the fact that there are models of the Ford Mondeo that are actually diesel powered. This would also include the £22,000 ST TDCi version which like most Mondeos and unlike the Toyota Prius, is designed to look much like the flagship V6 which is an attribute that makes the Ford Mondeo fall fairly short of the unique characteristics that the Toyota Prius has to offer (Times Online 2008).
It is important to highlight at this point that the Toyota Prius and the Ford Mondeo both are positioned quite differently in terms of the approach they harbor in terms of the passengers and the driver. In this regard, it is the productivity that the Toyota Prius has to offer that is the central highlight of the car since nearly every aspect of the car is designed to assist in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The Ford Mondeo on the other hand, is a car that gives quite a bit of concern to passenger comfort as well when compared to the Toyota Prius.
The Toyota Prius is designed to assist drivers who are concerned about their gas mileage and the cost that they have to incur in buying gasoline during long road trips. The central focus of the Toyota Prius is to provide a helping hand to the preservation of the environment, rather than loud engine sounds and accelerated 0 to 100 speeds in 60-second speeds. In this regard, the Mondeo was one that shared this particular attribute and did not show any exceptional aspects in terms of speed. Moreover, had it not been for the extensive customer service network that Ford has to boast about, there is a fair chance it would have been very difficult for Ford to market the car with the aggressiveness that they have done so with (Auto Express 2008).
One of the few aspects that set the Toyota Prius apart from other hybrid cars is the ability of the engine to operate in a manner such that it switches off when the car is stopped and in a stationary position. The ergonomics of the Toyota Prius therefore can be speculated to be fairly unique in its approach to energy consumption and waste emission.
One of the few aspects that can possibly be of concern to an owner of a Toyota Prius is the fact that the computers on board and the tricky power generation shifting balance is one that does not need the help of a car mechanic in times of distress, but of a well versed technician. This can also be concluded to be a reason that should be kept in mind when studying hybrid cars such as the Toyota Prius. These cars are not merely revolutions in terms of driving and energy consumption, but may very well lead to revolutions in the perspective that is used in the training and implementation of car mechanics.
If reference was to be given to the article: Expanding the Value Horizon: Stakeholders as Source of Competitive Advantage, by Chris Laszlo, Dave Sherman, and John Whalen in Sustainable Value Partners, we can see that in terms of Stakeholder concern, the Toyota Prius does a fairly good job of satisfying all the involved parties that we can see in figure 1.
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We can therefore conclude that while both cars may offer a similar appeal and may appear to belong to the same genre of automotive development, in essence, they encompass quite a vast difference in terms of their approach to fuel consumption and the opportunity cost that they are willing to pay for it. Both cars choose to approach the Stakeholders model in a very different perspective and we can therefore conclude that it would be a very unlikely sight if we were to find any similarities in the marketing strategies that Ford and Toyota employed for them.
List of References
Toyo Land (2008) Confessions of a hybrid car owner: Living with a Toyota Prius. Web.
Auto Express (2008) Ford Mondeo. Web.
Laszlo, C.; Sherman, D.; and Whalen, J. (2004) ‘Expanding the Value Horizon: Stakeholders as Source of Competitive Advantage.’ Sustainable Value Partners.
Times Online (2008) Ford Mondeo. Web.